Good morning! Well, at least for me… It would be interesting to actually know where you guys are from!
Ok, small diversion but now let's get to it.
Guest: to me it was a possibility. It was mentioned in the show that reading was an issue with Zoe, and clearly Gillian could have seen the problems with Alec coming but tried not to, so to me it was a fitting scenario. But they learned the lesson!
Now, my friend JustMyPillow: this is it, this is for you!
The morning after Gillian woke up from a short but rather intense sleep, the one she had grown accustomed to being with Cal. Sex with him was usually a tiring affair, for all the good reasons and with no complaints from her, but in all honestly the simple act of sleeping next to him was regenerating.
Before she was even fully awake she could feel that he wasn't there, but with her eyes still closed she could hear the water running in her ensuite bathroom and knew where he was. She rolled on his side of the bed, her mouth pressed on the pillow and breathing him in deeply before getting out of bed. She grabbed her night robe and put it on, smiling at the cloud of steam that came out of her bathroom when Cal turned off the tap and moved the shower curtain away. He liked his showers scorching hot, something he would only tame if she was under the jets with him, but even though she couldn't understand that Gillian liked what the hot water did to his skin. She pictured him in her head as she approached the bathroom, the redness on his skin, the thin layer of warmth the hot water would leave, the heat of his body in contrast with the freshness of hers, and the-
"What do you think you're doing?!"
Cal nearly jumped on his feet when he heard her voice, which could prove deadly given the sharp razor in his hand. He froze, surprised and honestly scared, looking at her with a dull expression and half of his face covered in white and fluffy shaving foam. Cal stared at her, one hand on his cheek and the other ready to bring down the blade, not knowing what to make of her serious, if not threatening, face.
"Just-" He gulped, slowly lowering the razor as if someone had just ordered him to put down a gun. "Just shaving."
"I don't think so," Gillian replied steadily, her eyes staring at the razor as if he was holding a dangerous weapon.
"Excuse me?"
Cal was honestly confused, surprised by her emotional reaction. He had woken up before her and gone into the bathroom, and while staring at his reflection in the mirror he had thought his beard had gone a bit out of control. He hadn't thought there was much he could do about it at the moment, but then he had browsed around her bathroom anyway just in case. He had not expected to find any of his stuff there, but he had smiled fondly when the spare shaving kit he used to keep at her place had ended up in his hands. So, naturally, his confusion and surprise grew even bigger when Gillian stepped closer and stretched her arm, actively trying to take the razor away from him.
"Give me that," she instructed, dancing around him as he pulled his arm away on instinct and held the object higher. "Cal, give that to me."
"What-" Since the razor was out of her reach, Gillian grabbed a towel and started removing the foam from his face. "Are you serious?"
She clearly was, as she kept jabbing at his face with one hand while still going after the blade with the other. Cal was still too surprised to see the funny side of it, and soon realised that two adults should know better than to fight over possession of a very sharp object. Still trying to talk her down gently, Cal stopped fidgeting and slowly put down the razor, understanding that surrendering the item was mandatory if he wanted to understand what was going on.
"What's gotten into you, love?" He asked when he could see she had calmed down.
"What makes you think you can make this kinds of decisions on your own?" Gillian barked at him in reply, fighting the instinct to grab the razor and toss it in the bin like a device about to explode.
"Bloody hell Gill, relax." Cal whispered softly, gently taking the towel from her hands and cleaning up the rest of his face to show her that the beard was still intact, and wondering why he suddenly felt like a hostage negotiator. "I just thought I could trim it a bit, then I saw the shaving kit and I figured I might as well-"
"What? Get rid of it all?"
"Well," Cal still didn't know what to make of it, but opted for a large smile and to pull her closer with his arm around her waist. "I thought maybe it would be good, like a… new beginning, to mark the end of something I'd rather leave behind."
The last couple of words were a little muffled as he leaned into her, his mouth brushing close to her ear as his tongue darted out for a moment. He grinned, satisfied, when Gillian's body melted under that killer touch and she seemed to shrink in his arms. But the satisfaction didn't last long, because after a few seconds of passive acceptance of his ministration Gillian pulled back, her eyes fluttering but soon recovering and going back to that stern look of hers.
"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard," she said, then she did indeed grab the razor and the entire shaving kit to toss it all in the trash by the sink.
Speechless, Cal stared down at the discarded items and then at her face, a face that didn't leave him space for any kind of reply or questions. To make it all the more clear, as if necessary, Gillian grabbed his arm and pushed him out of the bathroom, away from the dreaded razor & co, then closed the door. Utterly confused, he stared at the closed door not sure if he should try to force the issue - whatever it was - or just drop it. It seemed insignificant to him, certainly not something worthy of all that fuss, but for some reason he couldn't comprehend Gillian seemed to feel strongly about it and the last thing he wanted was to argue with her over something like that on day 3 of their second first week together.
"Come now love, it's just a beard," he still felt like pointing out, speaking to the closed door.
Which immediately swung open, revealing another image of Gillian's somewhat upset face.
"Oh yeah?" She scoffed. "You shave that off and tonight we'll see how much that is so not just a beard."
That said she closed the door again with a telling amount of force, leaving Cal standing there even more confused than before.
Of the many things they talked about in the past couple of days, how to handle things at work didn't make it to the list. Truth to be told, it had been a given; like they hadn't needed to discuss her return to work, any conversation about whether to hide their reconciliation had been useless. Much like Gillian's work, their relationship was going to resume as it had been, including rolling back into the office as if nothing had changed.
The confusion from the staff as they arrived at the office in the morning was palpable. Firstly because there had been no heads up that Foster was coming back, and secondly because she came in with Lightman, not hand in hand but walking awfully close for two people who had gone out of their way to keep a dignifying distance for months. They parted at the reception desk, Cal going off with Loker for a meeting and Gillian trying to sort out how to catch up on a week of missed meetings and overall agenda with Anna. There were a lot of smiles in that exchange, a lot of longing looks and of course a lot of concerned Lightman telling her to take it easy on her first day back. The smiles between them hadn't been completely gone when they had broken up, they really had been able to save their friendship it seemed; there had been plenty of longing looks on display too, natural between two people who clearly had not got over each other; and even the attention he had towards her recovery wasn't all that hard to understand. What was new - new as in recently new but not entirely - was the way he leaned closer when he told her to call him if she needed anything while he was out, or the way she affectionately squeezed his arm as a parting gesture right before he left for his meeting.
What was also new, another sort of recycled note really, was how they both acted as if there was actually nothing going on even while facing the curious and confused faces of their employees and they didn't owe anybody any explanation. Which was the case, with them being the bosses and all that, but didn't make things any easier for the team.
The rest of the day was like a visual scavenger hunt, with the staff keeping their eyes peeled to catch any sign that would reveal what was going on with no trace of doubts. It wasn't easy; in the same way their behaviour when they had gotten together the first time hadn't seemed all that different from their usual one, their interaction that day wasn't that different than how they had mostly behaved in front of other since they had split up, with the obvious expectation of the fight about the Artosi contract.
By mid afternoon, almost everybody had given up. It was simply too much work and stress to try and figure them out, not worth the effort and, possibly, the risk of pissing off the bosses. Towards the end of the day, the last men standing were Loker and Sarah, still very much engaged in observing the two bosses whenever they were in the same room. Having glass walls and doors pretty much everywhere around the office certainly played to their advantage, especially since Lightmand and Foster didn't seem to care about people watching them. Loker had spotted them in the meeting room, busy with a high profile client who wanted to be briefed personally by the people running the show, and as he had done for much of the day he had stopped to watch them. Sarah had joined him soon, ready to put her lip-reading skills to work, and they were both standing in a corner, pretending to be talking to each other about something when the client exited the room and Lightman and Foster were left alone.
There was still a lot of smiling between them, probably due to the successful briefing, then they sat down again and seemed to busy themselves with the papers in front of them and more shop-talk. Only they were sitting really close, shoulder to shoulder, reading the same document almost cheek to cheek and-
"For the love of God! Would you two stop that?!" Torres whined in a loud voice as she spotted them, making the pair flinch in surprise. Then she approached them and threw a quick glance to the room, rolling her eyes. "Would you just leave them alone?"
"Don't you wanna know?" Loker objected. "Don't you think we should?"
"Maybe, maybe not." Torres shrugged. "Listen, when I think about it things didn't change for us all that much whether they were together or not, why should it be any different now?" Sarah and Loker stared back at her with an expression that clearly stated she was missing the point. It wasn't about the repercussions on them, it was just plain need to know other people's business. "You two are terrible, you know that?"
"C'mon Ria!" Sarah pushed her. "Don't you think it would be better for all of us we knew for sure?"
Torres honestly didn't know; on the one hand she respected the bosses' privacy, but on the other hand it was a touch irritating that they couldn't be clear about their private affairs if they then planned on flaunting them on people's faces.
"Alright," she huffed then, taking some decisive steps towards the meeting room. "Let's find out."
"Wait, what?!"
Loker tried to grab hold of her as he spoke, but Torres walked briskly past him and reached the door, knocking once before opening it without waiting for an invitation to enter. Cal and Gillian looked up from their documents, looking annoyed by the interruption but not giving away anything else of note.
"Yes, Torres?" Cal addressed her with no particular inflection in his voice.
"Are you two back together?" The young woman asked, ignoring the loud gasp from Sarah and Loker's somewhat feminine whimper behind her.
Cal and Gillian looked at each other, faces under control, then they stared at her and Cal nodded slowly.
"Yes, we are."
Torres tilted her head on one side, trying her darndest to read their faces and knowing that being a natural wasn't enough if they were both actively trying to shield their thoughts from her. Behind her, Loker stepped forward and leaned a little closer, him too looking for answers beyond Cal's words.
"Nah," he mumbled then, looking at them with suspicion. "You aren't."
"You're right Loker, we aren't." Gillian immediately replied with a shake of her head, and Cal had to do somersaults not to burst into laughter.
"Hold on." Despite herself, Torres was now invested and sharpened her eyes "You are!"
"Yes," Gillian said then, perjuring herself.
"Really?" Sarah jumped in, hope and excitement in her voice.
"No," Cal quipped then, crashing the poor girl's soul. "We are not."
"You're lying," Torres accused him then, although she wasn't so sure of it.
"Am I?" He teased in response.
"Wait, of course he is!" Loker interjected. "He would never admit it so easily, he's just messing with us."
"That does sound like something that he would do," Gillian conceded, almost mumbling to herself, then leaned back on her chair and nodded thoughtfully. "Then again, he might also be messing with you by being honest about it."
"So it's true?" Sarah asked, feeling like her head was about to explode. "You're back together?"
"No, we are not," Gillian said again, impassable, to the point that Cal started to feel a tickling sensation in his pants. "But thanks for asking."
"Wait, I think I got it!" Loker announced, his eyes bright with the sudden epiphany, then he turned around to face his co-conspirators and seemingly ignored the subject of their crazy guessing game. "They are because all this sadistic game of theirs wouldn't account for much if they weren't!"
"But what if they are doing it on purpose to throw us off?" Torres questioned, now fully down the rabbit hole.
Gillian and Cal stared at the trio frantically bouncing theories back and forth as if the two of them weren't even in the room, him grinning evilly and her just in amused disbelief. They thought it was funny to mess with them, it had come natural to them to do so even without consulting each other or planning on it, but now they were basically messing with each other and all they had to do was sit back and enjoy.
They were still going at it when Anna came into the room, looking at the fired up trio with a bit of concern, then shrugged it off and told Cal that the detective for the robbery case he was working on was there to see him. Cal groaned, that woman was relentless about the case, and he really didn't want the show to end. Gillian chuckled at his reaction as he stood up from his chair huffing and puffing, grumbling away, then she stood up too and gathered up the papers they had been working on to follow in out of the room.
Loker, Sarah and Torres stopped, looking at the pair leaving the room as if their crazed conversation wasn't about them at all. On the way out, Cal seemed to notice the sudden silence and stopped, looking at them with a grin.
"Let me know when you figure it out," he said then. "I'm dying to know how this ends!"
After that he left the room, followed by Gillian who was shaking her head but couldn't hide a smile.
Despite the boss' recommendation, so to speak, the three employees actually gave up; Sarah had developed a full on headache, Loker felt dizzy and Torres seriously regretted getting involved. More than anything, it seemed that there was no way of really knowing, unless of course they could just stop overthinking.
Later that day when people started to leave the office resigned to not knowing, Cal was already tucked into his coat and waiting by the main lobby. There weren't many people left around to see it, but those who did had plenty to tell the morning after about how his face had lightened up in a smile when Gillian had joined him, ready to leave, kissing his cheek and taking his hand on the way out.
They went back to his place after work, stopping for a dinner out that featured Thai food and endless laughter about the scene they had witnessed earlier that day. Cal complimented her on the prompt way in which she had jumped in, and Gillian confessed the temptation to play them had been too hard to resist. As they ate, drank and talked, Cal didn't fail to notice how her hands seemed to always find their way to his face, particularly his beard, and although the gesture made him smile and confusedly remember their interaction from early in the morning he opted to stove it away for the time being.
After dinner they went home, where Cal had to run to the bathroom having failed to do so throughout dinner, not wanting to be away from her for even a second. When he came out of the bathroom with freshly washed hands he listened to the silence of his house, waiting for a sign as to where Gillian was. Then he heard the familiar sound of ice cubes moving inside a glass and smiled, a smile that turned into a purposeful grin as he took off his coat and jacket tossing both on the couch, then rolled up the sleeves of his shirt as he joined her. Cal could only see her back as Gillian poured two glasses of scotch, but he could just imagine the anticipation on her face as he approached from behind, his arms stretched at her sides and hands resting on the countertop, leaning with his chest on her back and inching closer, not touching her if not for the soft brushing of his beard on her cheek.
"You like the beard," he whispered then, gently moving his face to caress her bare skin with his hairy features.
"Of course I like the beard," Gillian said back, closing her eyes and abandoning herself to his touch, moving her face and neck against it so that she could feel more of it where she wanted.
"You never told me."
Gillian shivered, not so much for his softly spoken words in her ear but really just because of the exquisite friction of his beard on her skin.
"Cal Lightman, world's greatest deception expert, can't tell when his girlfriend is turned on by something."
There were so many things in that single sentence that made him stiff in his pants, and Cal had to call on all his self control not to take her right there and then. In general, he loved how she pronounced his name sometimes, rolling on that L in a way that made him picture how her tongue would have to move to produce that sound and knowing what that kind of movement could do to him when applied to the right places. Then she pulled at his ego, never a bad thing, and called herself 'his girlfriend' for the first time since they had gotten back together. What nearly did him in however, was the last bit confessing what he already knew judging by the temperature of her body rising and by her breathing getting a little shallow and fast paced.
"So you like the beard," he whispered again, pushing himself a little closer so that she could feel the growing bulge in his pants, but mostly to reach down her sternum as much as he could with his bearded chin.
"Yeah," Gillian gasped loudly, turning around swiftly and guiding his head down so he could plunge his beard in between her breast through the thin fabric of her blouse.
"How much exactly?" The tease that he was! Gillian knew that and Cal held that trait with silly pride, but he still wasn't entirely ready for what came next, when she took his right hand and firmly guided it to slide down inside the top of her skirt, surfing under the garment and her panties until his fingers found her warm and wet. "You really do like the beard." He wanted to sound funny about it, but to feel her ready as she was without so much of a real touch or kiss on his part just made him groan and choke on his words. Cal needed a moment to recover, it was incredibly powerful to know how much she wanted him sometimes, but then his fingers took the familiar path and gently teased her entrance. "Thank you for preventing me from committing such a big mistake."
"You're welcome." Her raspy voice managed to say, her eyes already closed and her body responding to him with no hesitation. "I think I should be rewarded for that."
Cal grinned, looking at her parting her lips slightly and arching her pelvis into his hand as he pushed a little deeper. She was so damn beautiful when her guard was down, when he was the one causing that reaction, when she didn't care about anything else but her own pleasure. Then he stepped closer, his erection pushing into his own hand going deeper in, his lips going for her jugular so that he could feel the vibration of the loud moan she let out as he took a more decisive pace.
"I agree," he said as he kissed her, avidly.
Then his mouth pressed to her neck, his left hand undoing the buttons of her blouse and pushing it open, revealing her black satin bra and the treasure it held. Gillian gasped loudly when his tongue pushed the garment aside just enough to allow his lips to close around her right breasts. For a brief moment she wondered why Cal didn't use his free hand to get rid of the damn thing altogether, then his left hand joined the right one inside her panties to focus solely on the bundle of nerves while he stabbed slowly inside her with two fingers. After that she wasn't much in control of anything, but managed to find enough clarity to hold the back of his head and guide it so that his bearded cheeks were rubbing in between her breasts at the same pace of his fingers until she finally cried out his name.